U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $48,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LYG. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 54,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 8,806 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 7,122,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,413 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 309,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 12,334 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 29,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 8,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LYG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Berenberg Bank started coverage on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. They set a “hold” rating and a $2.75 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.55.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $2.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.30. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 1 year low of $1.88 and a 1 year high of $2.72.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 13.41%. The firm had revenue of $14.35 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $0.046 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.37%.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers.